Topic > An Analytic Report on “Postmodern Blackness” by Bell Hooks

“Postmodern Blackness” is one of several essays written by bell hooks. It is, by its nature, a philosophical essay in which the African-American writer mixes what is literary with what is racial. In it, therefore, he attempts to evoke the role of exclusion that postmodernist discourse imposes on the culture and literary experience of blacks in the United States. This, for bell hooks, is clearly manifested when this discourse fails to give voice to the concepts of otherness and difference, two extremely central concepts in postmodernist theory. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Bell hooks (whose name is lowercase by choice) embarks on a mission to affirm the close relationship between African-American culture and postmodernism by unearthing one of his past memories of being a guest at a highly overcrowded white party . At the party, the author got into a very heated discussion with a group of white people, presumably intellectuals, about whether or not postmodernism is relevant to black people. The negative response of one of these people, the only black guest together with the writer, can be considered as the fountain from which Bell Hook's ferocious spirit emerged to write this set of pages which have the task of defending not only the black experience relevance to the postmodernist movement, but also the close attachment of black women to this theory. Indeed, bell hooks highlights the fact that the postmodernist movement is entirely independent and neglectful of African-American culture. Furthermore, he asserts that this movement is completely overwhelmed by the extremely ignorant white male presence of not only black male writers but also women. In this regard, bell hooks presents the reader with several details that further demonstrate the fact that the presence of women in postmodernist discourse must be completely controversial. In relation to this issue, she gives the example of Meaghan Morris's bibliography which, although it contains some works by women writers, is completely devoid of works written by a black woman. Indeed, bell hooks not only places the blame on white academic writers who exclude black culture, but, to a greater extent, rebukes the majority of black writers who refuse to take part and address this topic. Consequently, he shows his full agreement with Cornel West, a black postmodernist writer, who believes that black authors are actually marginalizing themselves by not merging into postmodernism. In one of his essays titled “Postmodernism and Black America,” Cornel West clearly suggests that black intellectuals “are marginal – usually languishing at the interface between black and white cultures or fully ensconced in Euro-American environments.” In fact, Cornel West's writings are a kind of encouragement for black literary figures to merge into the depths of postmodernism and thus assert their own identity through their writings. In addition to this, bell hooks believes that postmodernist discourse should be a broad space where African Americans can be able to express their needs and desires. It is, as she believes, an immense place where their black identity resides and from which it will emerge. Not fully satisfied with postmodern theory and its consequences for black society in the United States, bell hooks moves on to address the postmodernist critique of black society in the United States. identity which, in his opinion, needs to be completely reshaped. bell hooks believes this criticism is fundamentally racist as it assigns certain characteristics and traits to blacks inbased only on their color and race. Therefore, in his opinion, it needs to be further expanded so that it can cover other characteristics that show the good image and brilliant portrayal of African Americans and their culture. Accordingly, bell hooks, somewhere in his essay, refers to rap music as one of the voices through which black people were able to express and make their voices heard at that time. “It is no coincidence that “rap” has usurped R&B music's primary position among black youth as the most desired sound, or that it began as a form of “witness” for the underclass. It allowed young black underclass people to develop a critical voice.” (page 4). In addition to that, he believes that this cultural practice remains the only one that this part of people has been able to produce. As a result, bell hooks is somewhat certain that the flourishing of black culture can be observed through their popular culture. In the last paragraphs of his essay, bell hooks sheds light on one of the most important incidents that the flow of the black community population for the construction of its own identity witnessed. This is closely linked to the postmodern African American rights group which, unfortunately, has split into two parts: the essentialists and the nationalists. The former attribute great importance to individual identity. In reality, this group evokes the crucial meaning of African American history and heritage. Therefore, essentialists believe that African Americans should not merge with the rest of American society as this act could cause the complete destruction of their old history and ancient heritage. This can, to a large extent, create a kind of animosity in American society as essentialists are moving towards creating an identity, African American, completely separate from other American races. As for the second group, they are extremely different from their previous counterparts and believe that the United States is a melting pot where different cultures can peacefully assimilate. Therefore, they encourage the assimilation of their race into the vast array of cultures in the United States. However, a plethora of black critics believe that this act may result in the loss of the history of African Americans and the legacy of their ancestors. In fact, bell hooks disagrees with both hypotheses. In his opinion, only the black power movement was able to preserve the culture of his race and affirm its identity. The movement was also able to change several perspectives that blacks had on civil rights, not to deny its full emphasis on the meaning of individuality. Its only flaw, as bell hooks states, was that it was too essentialist, which made its decline a matter of time. On the other hand, bell hooks was not entirely skeptical about the emergence of another version of this movement. In fact, he invites blacks in America to start thinking about some ways that can give birth to a new black power movement, provided that the latter is completely different from anything previously generated, without forgetting that it must accumulate all of the Afro past. -Americans experience that their influence on other races will be very persistent. Despite its detailed and carefully addressed analysis of the issue of postmodernism and its relationship with the black experience, this essay, in some cases, was susceptible to some weaknesses such as the one noted through the dichotomy between the concepts of bell hooks capitalization of her name and the general position she is completely indoctrinated with. Bell hooks is believed to be one of the best-known feminists in the United States. THE=787